Balkans

Austria’s Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said that he “would like to see Serbia receive the EU candidate status this fall”. If it were up to Austria, the answer would be ‘yes’, but it requires the agreement of all 27 EU member states, he said. Spindelegger said that he is also …

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu celebrates the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The foreign minister performed Eid prayer at Sarajevo’s Gazi Husrev Bey Mosque together with Bakir Izetbegovic, the Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Tuesday.

Montenegro’s opposition is seriously considering walking out of the national parliament and local assemblies if an agreement is not reached on the status of the Serbian language in the country’s education system. The opposition is considering the boycott as a solution if agreement is not reached quickly on the status …

Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik says the Serb-run entity will end the political logjam over Bosnia’s institutions immediately if there is sufficient compromise. Milorad Dodik said Bosnia-Herzegovina’s top decision-making body, the Council of Ministers, could be formed immediately if the Bosnian Serbs got the ministeries they sought.

The Turkish government has published a decree for the returning of all properties seized by the Turkish State in the last 75 years to minorities, their foundations or individual representatives.

The UN Security Council has postponed its meeting on Kosovo for Tuesday morning. The meeting was scheduled for Monday morning, but the problems caused by inclement weather in New York resulted in the postponement. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will present his quarterly report on Kosovo during the meeting, but the …

Montenegro’s PM Igor Lukšić and opposition leaders will meet for a forth time in a bid to agree on the status of the Serbian language in the education system. Lukšić suggested that

Macedonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Poposki will pay official visit to Croatia on Monday. Poposki’s visit to Croatia is part of his first mini Balkan tour since he was elected as the new foreign minister of Macedonia. He will meet Croatian President Ivo Josipovic and his Croatian counterpart Goran …

Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he will hold talks with the members of the BiH Presidency, the High Representative and the leaders of the main Bosniak political parties. Together with Grand Mufti Çeriç, Davutoglu will greet Turkish citizens and kinsmen in Sarajevo …

Authorities in Kosovo have appointed a US prosecutor to investigate allegations linking prime minister Hashim Thaci and other senior figures to organ trafficking. “John Clint Williamson from the United States has been appointed lead prosecutor for the EULEX Special Investigative Task Force,” the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo …